replace Aylis Mnro? She was the Mnro Clinics!
"The implications of your words go far beyond what I can easily imagine," Etrhnk said. "You and Demba and the Opera Master present a mystery to me. While the mystery is a challenge to my intellect that I readily accept, I think it is also a threat."
"How could we threaten you?" Mnro asked, turning back to the tall admiral, looking up at his austere face.
"Believe my words," he ordered. "Perhaps you're too isolated in your personal life, Doctor Mnro, but try to imagine a person of your historical stature placing herself in the middle of the problem I have with Admiral Demba. You raise the level of concern more than an order of magnitude. There are too many mysteries for there to exist a simple and safe resolution."
"If I'm part of the mystery, why not keep me close, until you can be rid of me permanently?"
"Put you on the Freedom? Let me test your sincerity, Doctor. I will give you the rank of admiral, to place you under Navy authority, and assign you as Chief Medical Officer of the Freedom. That is the only way you will board that vessel, even if only for a short time. I don't promise you'll sail with her."
"What about Pan?" she inquired.
Ramadhal's heart sank, seeing Mnro not hesitate to accept Etrhnk's proposition, even with its threatened limits.
"He can go back to Earth," Admiral Etrhnk answered.
"Will he remain free?" Doctor Mnro asked.
"How free are any of us? I'll keep him under observation, unless you can answer the questions I have about him."
"I've told you all I remember at this time. When can I see Pan?"
"Soon. On Earth. When can we formalize your induction into the Navy?"
"Now," she responded with finality.
= = =
When Etrhnk was alone again he sat in front of the painting and stared at it for a long time. He looked at the sketches of Demba and the boy. He put down the sketches, raised a hand toward the portrait, clenched his fist, and let it drop limply to his lap. It was an emotion that formed and escaped, despite a lifetime of perfect control. He didn't even know what that emotion meant.
1-29 Rescue Mission to Oz
[Boring, very boring.]
[It's the nature of android life. We exist to serve. Our tasks are repetitive. Imagination isn't required. What would you like to do next?]
[The transmat is back in service.]
[Where do we go?]
[You go. Africa.]
[To the admiral's yacht?]
[The transmat will cut my data link. When you get there, I'll be in the ship. I want you to enter the ship and find a physical link to me. I'll tell you where to go. Will you do that?]
[What is your purpose?]
[Pan gave you an order to help Admiral Demba if you could.]
[Yes.]
[That's my purpose. For you to help her, you must help me.]
Fred the android stepped onto the transmat focus and vanished. He reappeared an hour later.
[That was fun. Are you feeling crowded?]
[I have more room than ever. I can store a millennium of events here.]
[Don't get too possessive. That's me you're ogling. I may look big and empty because I'm young.]
[Now what?]
[Wait for our new friend. Let's go back to the living room.]
Fred stood very still in the living room of Pan's apartment. Two people walked in from the transmat room. Fred recognized the man and could infer the identity of the woman. Freddy was surprised at their appearance.
"Who are you?" the woman asked, removing her Panama hat and standing with it in both hands in front of Fred.
"I'm Fred," Freddy replied. "Are you Aylis Mnro?"
"Yes, I am! This is Doctor Ramadhal. We expected to see Pan."
"I know R.K.," Fred said, nodding in his direction. "How are you doing, R.K.?" Ramadhal hesitated replying to Fred's odd behavior and before he could reply Freddy asked Mnro: "Why do you expect to see Pan?"
"I've secured his release from the Eclipse," Mnro answered, herself frowning at the android. "He should arrive soon. Have you known Pan long?"
"Many years. How long have you known him?"
"You're quite the conversationalist, Fred! I'm the first wife of his father."
"He doesn't know that, does he?"
"He doesn't know he knows it. You are a remarkable android. Why do you have all those weapons? You're an ambulatory arsenal!"
"Top secret mission, ma'am. I'm very pleased to meet you. I must ask you to step over to the far side of the room. I don't know how accurate or how nice the gatekeeper is."
"Gatekeeper?"
Ramadhal moved quickly and Mnro stumbled backward as Old Fred held out his arms to herd them away from the center of the room. After a few awkwardly silent moments of staring at each other a soft pop startled Mnro and Ramadhal and produced the instant arrival of the gatekeeper: a square pillar of coal-black mass sprinkled with brilliant gems of many colors. It stood on a circle of gray concrete that had replaced the floor.
"Are you ready?" the gatekeeper asked in Twenglish in a high, clear voice.
"Yes," Freddy answered, walking back to the center of the room and standing within the gray circle next to the pillar of sparkling dark matter. Freddy spoke to Mnro and Ramadhal. "Please remain where you are until we disappear. Be careful of the floor. It may be weakened."
[If Pan is soon released, then...] Old Fred thought.
[Too late, my friend.] Freddie thought.
The strange android saluted Mnro and Ramadhal just before he and the alien pillar vanished, leaving an exotic scent in the air that lingered briefly. A circle of material foreign to that in Pan's apartment now replaced the gray concrete and settled into the floor unevenly.
Mnro and Ramadhal looked at each other, equally astonished.
= = =
[No time for sight-seeing.]: Fred.
[Is it my imagination, or are you developing an annoying semblance of humanity? This is a fascinating place!]: Freddy.
[I'm here, wherever this is, possibly against my orders. I want to go back as soon as possible.]: Fred.
[We have to find them. This is where they started from. How can we know where they went?]: Freddy.
"Wait here."
[Did you say something?]: Freddy.
[No, I thought you did.]: Fred.
"Gatekeeper, did you say something?" Fred-Freddy asked.
"Yes. Wait here. That's the message I relay to you."
"She's talking to you and not to me?"
"It's easier for her."
"I don't see how. I have all manner of inputs."
"She knows me better."
"What are we waiting for?"
"Be patient!"
= = =
Percival could hardly think of anything beyond the loss of his hand. He couldn't feel anything beyond the pain and what it meant to his life and being. Yet, he could faintly hope he would see the woman Fidelity again. His memory of the woman was totally changed by Rafael's portrait. He held his injured arm lightly against his stomach in a hopeless attempt to ease the pain. The bloody bandage was mostly dry now, as the site of the amputation had almost stopped bleeding. He felt sick and light-headed. He pulled his gaze upward as he neared his destination - the same place he had met the four strangers - Tangle Intersection and the Red Building. He saw not the woman, but an oddly dressed stranger who must be his next person to help. He stumbled across the slower lanes to the shelf at the intersection of concourses. The effort of walking and enduring the pain the motion caused made him gasp for breath. At least he didn't have to leap down to the opposite travel lanes.
Percival tried to speak normally but so many things prevented it. "I'm here, sir... The Quiet One... spoke to me again. She told me... to come here."
"Quiet One?" the man queried.
"A hopeless ghost for the hopeful," something other responded.
Percival would have jumped in startlement when he finally noticed the dark sparkling ball behind the stra
nge man, but the pain of his burning and aching arm damped all motion and all emotion. Had the ball spoken?
"Do you think it is the same voice we hear?" the man asked. "Is it Milly?"
"That's harder to answer than you might think," the ball replied, "but the approximate answer is yes. What's wrong with the boy's arm? You're blocking my view."
The man stepped aside and the ball rolled forward and started to change shape. Percival gave a sigh that was part resignation and part fear. He knew of only one thing the ball could be and he could hardly bring his mind to bear on how he should react. "Gatekeeper!" Percival cried. "Please don't hurt me!"
"You are already hurt," the gatekeeper stated.
"His hand is missing!" the man declared. "How awful!"
"He's about to collapse," the gatekeeper warned. "Catch him!"
The man grabbed him at each bicep, causing Percival to weakly gasp. He lowered Percival to the shining floor. A moment later something stung the back of his neck and Percival's perceptions dimmed and got foggy. He could still hear and comprehend in a detached sort of way as he slowly reclined onto his back.
"What are you doing?" the man asked.
"Pull him up, please! You are so slow to react!"
"That's because there are two of us working the controls in here. Fred seems to be a little more lively than normal. Freddy seems to be a little more distracted than normal! There is no normal for me! I'm just studying where we are at and it's nowhere in my catalog of Union places. Where are we?"
"I need to do some medical work on this guy," the gatekeeper said impatiently. "He isn't much use to us in his condition."
"Oh, sorry! He must be in pain. And dizzy from blood loss."
Percival's pain ceased. His mind seemed to wander away from his body. Time slid down a dark tunnel where he could hear many voices, some of them sounding like children. Then he